1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to monitoring vehicles and equipment and in particular to monitoring operations of vehicles and equipment. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring operations of vehicles and equipment in a facility.
2. Background
An airport is a facility at which aircraft, such as airplanes and helicopters, may operate. An airport typically includes at least one surface, such as a runway or helipad for take offs and landings. Airports often include other structures. These structures may include, for example, hangers and terminal buildings.
In performing operations for air traffic, different vehicles may be used to provide support for these operations. These support vehicles may include, for example, mobile air conditioning vehicles, cargo transportation vehicles, shuttle buses, fuel trucks, fire trucks, deicing vehicles, catering vehicles, push back tugs, baggage loaders, and other suitable vehicles. These vehicles may be involved in ground power operations, aircraft mobility, loading operations, and other suitable operations to support aircraft flights
The different operations performed at an airport, keep traffic moving both in the air and on the surface. The operations also may be a source of noise and air pollution. These types of pollution and their effect on the environment are of concern. Airports may generate environmental reports to show how they consider environmental concerns, and how they protect the environment from airport operations in various airport management reports. These reports may include, for example, environmental protection measures that are put in place by the airport. These measures may include ones to reduce water, air, soil, and noise pollution.
One area of particular concern with respect to pollution at airports is the production of green house gas emissions. Emissions of interest with respect to the environment may include the emission of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide generated by airport operations. One source of these types of emissions includes support vehicles at the airport.
Currently, these types of emissions are estimated using manufacture's specifications. Current methodologies for identifying emissions use the total fuel consumption and the manufacturer's specifications to identify emissions generated by vehicles over a selected period of time, such as a year. The granularity of these estimates may be set based on the granularity at which fuel consumption estimates can be obtained. The fuel consumption is currently identified from fuel purchase reports.
These types of reports provide a monthly or yearly amount of fuel purchased for use by support vehicles. These types of reports do not provide information of sufficient granularity to reveal specific use patterns of specific vehicles or equipment that might be useful in discovering emission reduction opportunities.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for identifying emissions of vehicles at a facility that overcomes the problems described above.